Biography

My work is broadly situated within Cultural Studies and I regularly teach on undergraduate and postgraduate modules concerned with the relationship between communication and culture. As an interpretivist researcher, I am particularly sympathetic towards ethnographically-inspired methods. I am also involved in work using arts-based methods to offer 'voice’ to seldom-heard groups. My current research explores varied ways in which cultural politics, marketing and the media interconnect. I am engaged in on-going work in Lima, Peru which explores the commodification and appropriation of subaltern urban popular culture within this rapidly transforming city. The second strand of my research concerns representations and perceptions of disability within the media and popular culture. Based on my PhD research in Mexico City, I have also published widely on Public Relations as a cultural intermediary.

In my teaching, I employ critical, reflective and experiential pedgagogic strategies to encourage students to develop their cultural imagination... I was awarded a Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2011. I am currently Framework Leader for postgraduate programmes offered in the CMC academic group over-seeing programme (re)validation 2014/15. I co-founded and jointly edit the Journal of Promotional Communications: an open access journal dedicated to showcasing the best student scholarship in this field and am part of the organising committee for the CMC Annual Student Conference. I have been involved in research and communications consultancy projects with clients including Channel 4 and ITV.

Research

My work is broadly situated within Cultural Studies and I am particularly sympathetic to ethnographically-inspired and participatory research approaches. My current research explores the varied ways in which cultural politics, marketing and media interconnect. I am engaged in on-going projects in Lima, Peru which use concepts of performativity and performance to explore the commodification of subaltern urban popular culture within this rapidly transforming city. Principally, my work seeks to document and critically analyse the emergence and contemporary cultural production, consumption and representation of 'Chicha' as 'grafica popular' and an example of 'faded advertising'.

The second strand of my research is concerned with representations of disability within the media and popular culture. I have recently co-edited a volume on the media coverage of the London 2012 Paralympics together with Dr Dan Jackson (BU), Dr Richard Scullion (BU) and Dr Mike Molesworth (University of Southampton). 'Reframing Disability: Media, (Dis)Empowerment, and Voice in the 2012 Paralympics' developed from award-winning research carried out for Channel 4, involving a 2 year longitudinal qualitative audience study undertaken in the build-up, during and immediately after the Paralympic Games. The book will be published by Routledge this Autumn. I'm also involved in a collaborative project - 'Seen but Seldom Heard', using participatory arts-based methods (in particular, performance poetry) to challenge dominant representations and perceptions of disability... Performances of this work have taken place during the 2012 Cultural Olympiad celebrations in Weymouth and at the Bridport Literary Festival in 2012, amongst others.

Based on my PhD research in Mexico City, I have also published widely on Public Relations as a cultural intermediary. 'Public Relations, Society and Culture' co-edited with Associate Professor Dr Lee Edwards (University of Leeds) was published by Routledge in 2011.

Conferences

Pullen, E., Hodges, C., Jackson, D., Scullion, R. and Silk, M., 2018. Representing para-bodies: The mediation between production and consumption in Paralympic broadcasting. In: DIFFERENT BODIES: (SELF-)REPRESENTATION, DISABILITY AND THE MEDIA 23 June 2017 University of Westminster.

Hodges, C.E.M., 2014. “Seldom Heard Voices: Using Performance Poetry as a Participatory Methodology to Explore Young People’s Lived Experiences of Disability". In: ”, International Federation of Theatre Research (IFTR) 6-9 July 2014 University of Warwick.

Hodges, C.E.M. and Denegri-Knott, J., 2013. Making and performing ‘chicha’ : A preliminary study of the contribution made by rural-urban migrant communities to cultural production in Lima, Peru. In: In the Balance: Indigeneity, Performance, Globalisation Conference 24-27 October 2013 University of Notre Dame, 1 Suffolk St, London, SW1Y 4HG, UK.

Hodges, C. and Hodges, C.E.M., 2013. Creative voices. The role of participatory research in telling an alternative story of PR Research. In: International Communication Association 2013 'Challenging Communication Research' 17-21 June 2013 London.

HODGES, C. and Denegri-Knott, J., 2013. Making and performing ‘chicha’ : A preliminary study of the contribution made by rural-urban migrant communities to cultural production in Lima, Peru. In: In the Balance: Indigeneity, Performance, Globalisation Conference 24-27 October 2013 London.

Hodges, C.E.M., 2003. An Agenda for Research into the Relationship between Public Relations and Culture. In: Current Debates and Issues in Public Relations Research and Practice 10-12 April 2003 Bournemouth University, Poole.

Profile of Teaching PG

Intercultural Communication

Consumer Culture Insights

Profile of Teaching UG

Transnational & Multicultural Communication

Invited Lectures

'The Meaning and Value of Storytelling in Public Relations' (with Dr Lee Edwards, University of Leeds), XXIII Annual Convention of the Assocation of Public Relations Practitioners of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 7 & 8 October 2011